When Mu Zi struck, waves of icy coldness spread through the room, making Li Yan and Zhang Qiang's blood run cold.
"What's with her Yuan power? Where is this frost coming from?" Li Yan murmured.
In his years of traveling the south and north, he had never felt such a threat from an Earth Yuan level fighter.
The cold woven into her Yuan power was stronger than anything he had ever seen in his life.
"What rank of Yin-Sha energy has she absorbed?" he wondered.
In this world, Yin-Sha and Yang-Gang energy are divided into nine ranks: first is the lowest, ninth is the highest.
Ordinary Earth Yuan masters absorb Yin-Sha energy no higher than the second or third rank.
The Yin-Sha energy that nourished Mu Zi came from the Rebirth Seal.
What rank it was, Mu Zi didn't know for sure, but it was clearly stronger than the cold coming from Qing Tan in the original story.
In other words, it was above the fifth rank.
But this didn't come without a price.
By only absorbing Yin-Sha energy from the Rebirth Seal, Mu Zi was forced to "feed" it a huge amount of resources.
An entire fourth-rank plant would turn into a tiny fraction of Yin-Sha energy—the Rebirth Seal was clearly taking a hefty "toll."
Rebirth Seal: "How dare you groundlessly slander an honest seal?"
If Mu Zi hadn't become rich earlier, this would have slowed her cultivation.
But the rarity of such Yin-Sha energy indirectly confirmed its highest rank.
Back to the fight.
Mu Zi swiftly formed a seal. Yuan power swirled, and a light seal, like a white lotus, appeared before her, shooting toward Li Yan.
"Heavy Yuan Seal!"
Li Yan, sensing the seal's aura, flinched. Without holding back, he used a third-rank martial technique.
"Mountain-Shattering Fist!"
The fist and the seal collided, causing a powerful explosion. A wave of wind spread out, shattering tables and chairs around them.
Bang!
When the dust settled, Li Yan's fist, enveloped in Yuan power, was locked in a fierce struggle with the dazzling white seal. Their attacks were in a state of balance.
"Break!" Li Yan roared.
His eyes flashed with fury; Yuan power from his dantian surged forth in an unrestrained torrent, and the light on his fist shone brighter.
Crack!
The light trembled, and fine cracks appeared on the white seal.
Mu Zi squinted. The power of Heavenly Yuan was indeed great—Li Yan was able to stand against her Heavy Yuan Seal.
She immediately put all her strength into it. Yuan power gushed from her body like a raging tide and rushed into the light seal. In the next instant, the cracks that had almost covered the seal began to slowly heal.
As they disappeared, the Heavy Yuan Seal shone even brighter, dazzling the eyes.
The continuous stream of Yuan power strengthened the seal's might. Li Yan, who had been holding the upper hand, began to weaken, his strength draining away.
Bang!
Finally, he couldn't hold on and, retreating, crashed with a thump into the solid wall. Blood gushed from the corner of his mouth.
Zhang Qiang, who was watching, froze in horror.
A Heavenly Yuan master losing to an Earth Yuan master? What was happening to this world?
In truth, it was not so surprising.
Lin Dong, at the late stage of Earth Yuan, defeated Wu Sha at the early stage of Heavenly Yuan using only the third-rank Marvelous Gates Seal, whose power barely reached the fifth rank.
The quality of Mu Zi's Yuan power was higher than Lin Dong's. Although she was at the mid-stage of Earth Yuan, her power was not much inferior to his at that time.
Even if Li Yan was stronger than Wu Sha, the Heavy Yuan Seal was a technique created by Mu Zi herself. By executing her own creation, she unleashed its full power.
Therefore, even with a technique of the same rank, Mu Zi surpassed others.
The power of her martial techniques was comparable to the mastery of their creators—those who merely imitated others' moves couldn't compete with her.
During the trial against Mu Ye, her first-rank Penetrating Fist suppressed the second-rank Eight Desolation Palm for this very reason.
According to Mu Zi's assessment, the Earth Yuan Seal, although it hadn't reached the sixth rank, could rival imperfect sixth-rank techniques when fully unleashed.
And here was the result: without revealing her trump cards, using only the full power of her Heavy Yuan Seal, Mu Zi had pinned Li Yan against the wall.
He wasn't weak—she was just too strong.
Stunned, Li Yan looked at her with horror. What kind of monster was this?
But then he regained his composure and gave a cold sneer:
"How many times can you repeat an attack like that?"
As a Heavenly Yuan fighter, he had an advantage in the reserves of Yuan power. If Mu Zi didn't kill him instantly, the fight would turn into a war of attrition.
Mu Zi, sensing his ridiculous confidence, sighed inwardly.
One of life's greatest illusions: "I can defeat her!"
"Well, then I'll make you despair!"
Her gaze turned icy. The seal in her hands changed, and a wave of bone-chilling cold gushed out, forming a dark blue light seal.
"Earth Yuan Seal!"
The icy flow froze Li Yan's thoughts. In the next instant, he gritted his teeth, bit his tongue, shook himself, and launched a counterattack.
"Mountain-Shattering Fist!"
However, despite Li Yan's resistance, under the pressure of the icy coldness, his Mountain-Shattering Fist weakened significantly.
Unable to create a decent defense, he watched as the dark blue seal flew toward him with crushing force.
Li Yan's gaze, filled with despair and deep regret, followed the approaching light.
"Who did I anger?!" he gasped.
Boom! A deafening crash echoed, and Li Yan fell silent forever.
A Heavenly Yuan master had fallen!
Swoosh!
A figure darted towards the exit—it was Zhang Qiang.
He had wanted to escape at the beginning of the fight, but everything happened too quickly: before he could react, Li Yan had been defeated.
Now he could only hope that Mu Zi had exhausted her strength, giving him a chance to slip away.
Attacking her, taking advantage of her weakness? He didn't even dare to dream of that.
It was too risky!
The proximity of the exit filled Zhang Qiang with elation. But in the next instant, a sharp pain pierced his mind, and he collapsed to the ground.
Seeing the impassive Mu Zi approaching, Zhang Qiang begged:
"Sister, goddess, please, have mercy!"
"I never touched anyone from the Mu estate! Have pity, spare my life!"
Mu Zi answered with a sweet smile, but this charming look filled Zhang Qiang with terror.
"I'm sorry, you've seen my face."
The melodious voice sounded in his ear, and Zhang Qiang's heart turned to ash.
A flash of energy from her finger ended his life. Mu Zi looked at the despair frozen on his face and sighed slightly.
Even if Zhang Qiang didn't know her identity, she wouldn't have spared him. After all, he was an enemy of the Mu estate.
"You can only blame yourself for associating with the wrong people."
Mu Zi walked to the corner, where she found the Fiery Tiger Python. Kneeling, she stroked its large head and said softly:
"Come, Flame Emperor, we're going home!"
In the Mu estate's assembly hall, Mu Tao and the others anxiously paced the room.
"Two hours have passed already, why isn't she here yet? Could it be that Little Zi..." Mu Tao began.
Mu Yun flinched and quickly shook his head:
"No, no, that can't be!"
Mu Tao was about to continue, but a light breeze suddenly swept through the hall, and a figure appeared within it.
"Little Zi?" everyone exclaimed in unison.
But when their eyes fell on the Fiery Tiger Python in her arms, their faces twisted with astonishment.
"What is that?" someone gasped.
Mu Zi smiled slightly:
"I brought back the Flame Emperor. From the Yellow Dragon Lair."
Hiss!
Everyone gasped, not believing their ears.
But then Mu Yun's face clouded with worry. He looked at the girl and said:
"That's too dangerous! Never take such a risk again."
"If Li Yan had noticed you, the consequences would have been dire!"
Mu Yun felt a belated fear. He was sure that Mu Zi had secretly infiltrated the Yellow Dragon Lair and stolen the beast.
To have succeeded in doing so on the territory of a Heavenly Yuan master—she was incredibly lucky.
But at the thought of what could have happened if she had been discovered, Mu Yun's heart clenched.
Mu Lingsha suddenly asked:
"And what about Li Yan?"
Everyone turned to Mu Zi, burning with curiosity about the fate of the Heavenly Yuan master.
Under their gazes, Mu Zi remained calm. She raised her head slightly and replied placidly:
"Li Yan? I killed him."
A deathly silence fell over the hall.